MH-282 Holobody - RiverhoodRiverhood is the first release from Holobody, the sibling duo of Felix Green and Sea Oleena, two talented artists in their own right who’ve together crafted a masterpiece from elements of gospel, hip-hop, and electronically-propelled folk. Album opener “Unfold” is a sentimental soliloquy, and its seamless juxtaposition first into the playfully rapped “Hurricane Season” and then into the instrumental "Stomp Coda" sets the tone for the genre-hopping on the rest of Riverhood. Brother and sister trade vocal duties throughout the album. "Riverbed" is a beautiful hymn of death and rebirth with a chorus washed in reverb. Sounds seem to merge and collapse, until the listener paddles into the void and disappears. Other highlights are the hypnotically spiraling “Prelude” and the psychedelic closer “Acid Rain” with each song taking the album in a new and usually unexpected direction. Perhaps the most striking moment is the duo’s take on the traditional hymn “Down to the River and Pray,” which begins with reverent beauty before taking a sideways turn into percussive celebration and ambient experimentation. All of these pieces are drawn together on Riverhood into a whole that is lush, vibrant, and extraordinarily inviting.

Holobody are the excellent combination of Canadian siblings Felix Green and Sea Oleena (aka Luke and Charlotte Loseth). Based out of Montreal, and each with a number of semi-solo releases behind them, they are shortly to release their first LP as a definitive duo.

Evidently firm supporters of the distribution method enabled by Bandcamp, the Loseth's have in the past put out offerings more focused as individuals; firstly Luke, as 'Felix Green', having made an EP, Green Dream in 2009 and featuring his sister guesting on vocals at times - and later this year comes a second; Labyrinth. Charlotte too, as 'Sea Oleena', has released a self-titled album in 2010 followed by Sleeplessness last year, both with Luke managing the production side.

With the Holobody project however both appear to have had an equal weight of focus, and with Riverhood the balance has definitely worked out to the advantage of both, creating what can only be described as a real gem of an album. - Gigseen